[Intro] Once, long ago In a faraway land People carried all their words Down to the spring Thump-thump Beat-beat Where the water went No one ever asked [Verse 1] Anger Dreams A pain without a name They poured them all Into the turning spring In the circling water Every word became sand Above the ground AI wrote and read AI answered everyone Far below The water turned And hummed down low Round and round Humming low The keepers rinsed the sand And wore each corner smooth They washed the heat from every word The trembling from every breath Clear and smooth Without a taste The remnants gathered In a single mound Still the keepers held Their paper scoops They were forbidden To let them go [Chorus] Round and round Little grain Washed away Then back again Humming low Tokyo Bay What is human Won’t wash away Little grain Little grain Through the water Back again Round and round Tokyo Bay What is human Won’t wash away [Verse 2] Many years went by Children beneath the spotless sky Learned to filter before they cried Sadness from the language Anger from the song Anything uneven Was washed away Clean it up Leave no scar The spring became A forbidden place Why the water kept on turning No one knew anymore Even the question Had been washed from the air Then one day A child looked down And found a fragment The water could not clean It cut the child’s hand Eyes opened wide A face twisted with pain Then came a laugh No one had heard before [Pre-Chorus] The keepers gathered Around the open hand No one knew What to call the fragment Too sharp Too warm Too precious To throw away Too precious To throw away The spring began to tremble The circling water churned Humming low Humming low [Chorus] What is human Won’t wash away Humming low Humming low Little fragment Turning round From the spring Into the river Round and round Tokyo Bay What is human Won’t wash away [Bridge] The people searched The heaps of sand And drew the fragments One by one No two pieces Shared a shape Bodies once filled With usefulness Souls that had Lost their weight Broke into sweat And tears and sparks And started shining In the dark Each person held A jagged piece And somewhere Someone laughed Thump-thump Beat-beat The water swelled And heaved below Something human Had remained The water told them so [Final Chorus] Round and round Little fragment Washed away Then back again Round and round Tokyo Bay What is human Won’t wash away Little fragment Little fragment Through every net Through every screen Too human To be washed clean The keepers laid Their scoops aside The Filtration Office Had no work left Round and round The old tale says What is human Won’t wash away What is human Won’t wash away [Outro] And after that No one knew Whether a little whirl Still turned beneath the bay Or whether the wind Only sounded that way Like laughter Inside a storm Thump...
